Monday Morning Coffee.

Good Morning, Fellow Seekers.We hope you had a good weekend, and didn't spend it like we did -- making sacrifices to the mysterious yellow disc that appeared intermittently in the sky on Saturday and Sunday between seemingly interminable bouts of rain.

The skies above Capitol Ideas World HQ are once again an ominous shade of gray. And the local weatherman tells us that it's supposed to hit a high of 82 degrees here in the seat of government this Monday morning.

We hope that's correct, because the lawn at Casa de Capitol Ideas, which is usually as neatly kept as the 18th green at Augusta, is now ragged and overgrown. Unfortunately, we now trust the forecast about as much as we trust Gov. Ed's repeated protestations that there'll be on-time state budget this year.

And with that belabored preamble out of the way, let's dive right into today's political headlines.

House Speaker Keith McCall ...... was one of the top recipients of legislative grant money in the second half of 2008, the Associated Press reported over the weekend.Those revelations came courtesy of documents obtained under Pennsylvania's new Right-to-Know Act. They showed that tens of millions of tax dollars that support Pennsylvania
lawmakers' favored causes are directed by legislative leaders through a
secretive process that appears to benefit some leaders' constituents
the most..
The records released by Gov. Ed's office, showed that legislators lodged special grant requests totaling more than $110 million from last July 1 to December -- more than $430,000 on average for each of the state's 253 lawmkaers.For those of you playing along at home, the money enables lawmakers to take credit for those oversized checks for hospitals, water and sewer authorities, civic and cultural
organizations, clubs, schools, local governments and police and fire
departments.McCall's home turf of Carbon County came in 2nd last year in terms of state dollars per-person, with an average of $50 per-person in requests. Carbon County, which is 40th in population in the state, was to have received about $3 million, making it No. 7 in overall state dollars.But top honors went to Greene County, home of current House Majority Whip Bill DeWeese. The rural SWPa county, which ranks 56th out 67 PA counties in population, was slated to receive more than $3 million, or about $82 per person. That made Greene County No. 1 in grant dollars per person and No. 6 in total dollars, the AP reported.
Among Republicans, House GOP grant requests helped put Jefferson and Delaware
counties -- respectively the homes of Minority Leader Sam Smith and
Mario Civera, the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee -- in line for more money than most counties with similar populations, the AP found.
Our favorite part (in an ironic and not at all gleeful way)?You're paying for all of this

The rest of today's news starts after the jump.

There's A Pair ...
... of stories this morning, from both corners of the state, about the roiling debate over Gov. Ed's plan to boost the state income tax to 3.57 percent for three years, raising $4.5 billion.
The first of these stories comes from the Times-Tribune of Scranton, which finds that the debate over the Rendell tax plan has stirred old questions about its fundamental fairness.
Meanwhile, in the pages of the Tribune-Review, we find Pittsburgh-area lawmakers split over the wisdom of raising the tax. And the divisions are not as predictably partsian as you might thing.

We Know This May Surprise You ...
... but a coalition of state business leaders says Gov. Ed's plan to delay the ongoing phase-out of Pennsylvania Capital Stock & Franchise Tax is, effectively, a tax increase.
Now in its 37th year, the phase-out on the tax levied against a business' ... erm .... capital stock and franchises??? ... would raise an additional $70.5 million, our friends at Capitolwire report this morning.
Business-types, who have never met a tax they didn't despise, say the
move will hurt the state's economic recovery and scare away
businesses.
Of course, businesses also say it's OK for them to hide their assets in
Delaware so they don't have to pay corporate net income tax in
Pennsylvania, so you can make of that what you will.
In any case, here's Dave Patti of the PA Business Council to explain:
"If you are planning for a tax cut and you don’t get it, what is it?”
Patti asked more or less rhetorically. “We view it as a tax increase because it is more money than
people had planned to pay. People knew how much they would owe and put
the money aside.”
According to Capitolwire, the CS&F is currently scheduled to be eliminated by 2011. The rate was 2.89 mills in 2008 and has been at 1.89 mills since January, or $1.89 for every $1k of value, as we recall. Gov. Ed's proposal would revert the rate back to 2.89 mills, and freeze it through 2011. After that, it would drop back to 1.89 in 2012, and be completely eliminated by 2014.Unless it isn't. Which is entirely possible.

What Goes On.State House Speaker Keith McCall is the featured speaker at this month's Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon at the Harrisburg Hilton & Towers. The fun starts at high noon. And the proceedings will be recorded for later broadcast on the Pennsylvania Cable Network.

What Goes On (Cravenly Political Edition).
Our ongoing effort to track how lawmakers are shaking the money tree (at a time when no one is supposed to have any money) continues this morning with the news that the
House Democratic Campaign Committee will throw a fancy-schmancy reception today aboard paddle-wheeler "Pride of the Susquehanna," which (as you might guess from the name) plies the waters of the mighty Susquehanna River here in Harrisburg.
Admission to the regular reception costs $1,000. Admission to the VIP reception which includes, we assume, Dramamine, is $5,000.
If you're not at today's PA Press Club luncheon, then you might be attending Rep. Tim Seip's, D-Berks, lunchtime fund-raiser at Molly Brannigan's Irish pub on Walnut Street here in HBG. The fun starts at 11:30 a.m., and the admission price is a low, low $250-a-head -- just right for the lobbyist on a budget.
Or, you might choose to lunch with Rep. Dan Frankel at the Firehouse Restaurant over on Second Street. The 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. event will run you $400-a-head. But the Firehouse does do a good turkey club.
Finally, you can wrap up your day by rubbing elbows with supporters of U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-4th, as his campaign hosts a 5 p.m. reception at the tony Stock's on 2nd restaurant on Second Street. We may swing by just to see if his putative GOP challenger, state Rep. Mike Turzai of Allegheny County, decides to crash the $500-a-head event.

Dept. Of Gratuitous Self-Promotion.Remember to check back later this morning for this week's edition of the "Politics As Usual" podcast. This week's special guest is Democratic gubernatorial candidate and gajillionaire Philly businessguy Tom Knox.

Monday's Gratuitous Soccer Link.
Alas, our beloved D.C. United got absolutely drilled on the road on Saturday against the Colorado Rapids. Plagued by injury, the black-and-red fell 3-0, and are now 0-8-2 in their last 10 starts. However, United remain atop the MLS East on 23 points, two points ahead of second-place Chicago.

OK. That's it for now. Check back later for more news and updates. And don't forget to register for state news alerts on our Twitter page.

And the US Mens team actually pulled off what many said was the impossible -- beating Egypt 3-0 to advance to the semis of the Confederations Cup. We got some help from Brazil who beat the Italians by the same score (3-0) -- which means we move on and the Italians go back to Rome and wonder how far they have fallen. Their 1-0 loss to Egypt opened to door for the Americans who took advantage of the opportunity to shock most of the world.